For those who can't put a name to a map - Valparaniso is the one with the sniper light-house.
It has one tank and one black hawk for attack. No vehicles on defence. The key to dominating this map on public servers has always been to rush in before a defence can be established - or assault with the intention of sneaking ninja's in for squad spawns in behind the defender spawn points while they are otherwise engaged with frontal pressure. I think that principle remains pretty sound with a clannie, although we can expect much stronger opposition and quicker reaction to pushes.
One thing we need to decide whether we actually want to use the black hawk or not - it can be a potent cover destroyer (especially when attacking the first point) but it does tie up at least two players and normally means two ticket loss if darted. Although there is always the extra seat repair argument, but it doesn't protect one from RPG's.
I thought we should forget using the black hawk to provide fire support, but rather use it as a ferry to send 5 players behind enemy lines. For instance, if we employ the strategies mentioned above and find we are 20 tickets down on the first (or second) stage with little or no penetration, we can get one squad to fill up the helo plus one player from another squad. Then we fly in over the mountain flight of the valkyrie's style and bail out behind enemy lines with the intention of causing havoc while two designated players make for sneaky hiding spots.
We would need to practice a 5 player bail out, the approach for the black hawk and appropriate ninja spots on the first two stages. It is risky as we are not guaranteed any one will find a ninja spot, but if it works we will have a base of ops for two squads to spawn in and wait for a full squad to assault from behind them. Fail (5 ticket loss) or win - it will disrupt their lines for the squads attacking directly to move up while the enemy search around for the bailers and engage them.
As I understand it, stages one two three and five are captured by tank pressure down the middle with wing drives and ninja back ops if appropriate. Stage 4 is the real test - best taken by ensuring we hold or at least shell the crap out of the high ground up on the left. If held, we just need to set up some security and then can put pressure on both mcomms with good cover. If the enemy hold it, they have crossfire opportunities as we run onto the mcomms and it's doubtful we will be able to arm or even put fire on an armed mcom without bleeding badly. So my suggestion would be to focus two squads on achieving that high ground before bothering with the mcomms.
On defence, again that high ground is important on stage 4. Best thing for all stages will probably just be to split three squads across LHS, Middle and RHS - with middle being anti-tank and support for left or right. If middle have to swing out to support, it's important at least one or two players from the opposite wing move in to keep the pressure up in the middle.
I hope that helps the SL brains trust!
